Not pleased about stalled management deal with iwi

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

SOME Gisborne district councillors are unhappy with what they perceive as a lack of progress concerning the Joint Management Agreement (JMA) with Te Runanganui o Ngati Porou.

Councillors agreed at their full council meeting to appoint the mayor or deputy mayor, along with Bill Burdett, as their representatives on the Joint Management Agreement Forum, which aims to “enable outcomes and matters of the JMA and for the Waiapu Catchment Plan to gain traction”.

The agenda before councillors said the JMA, despite being four years old “remains largely unimplemented’’.

“It’s only taken four years to get to this point,’’ said Mayor Meng Foon.

Graeme Thompson said the JMA had not been working well. He suggested a review be held to ‘‘fix’’ the issue.

Bill Burdett said he thought his time in tribal politics “was gone”.

“The mayor’s already alluded to it. Since the passing of Uncle Api (Mahuika, the runanga chairman) nothing has happened.

“Hopefully going forward with the mayor’s presence and me stirring the pot, something might happen.”

The JMA also consists of two representatives from the runanga and council’s chief executive.